Developing European regions? Unity and diversity in the new Europe

Publication:
Political Studies Association of Ireland (PSAI) Annual Conference on “Governance: Local, National and Global”;

Publication type:
Conference Object

Abstract:

This paper introduces a project recently started by the authors on the relationship
between European integration and regionalisation in both extant member states and
applicant countries. Our main question is whether we are witnessing a process of
Europeanisation in relation to sub-central state structures; a common pattern of
regional governance within member states. Related to this, we are concerned with the
extent to which EU membership, and EU institutional actors in particular, have
influenced the pattern of regionalisation. This paper situates the influence of the EU in
the context of other potential explanations for change in European regions beyond the
EU system (globalisation) and within the member states (sub-central demands for
greater autonomy). It also places the public policy literature on policy diffusion and
policy transfer alongside the concepts of globalisation and Europeanisation to provide
a framework for comparative analysis. We provide a brief picture of developments in
regional governance in a number of states and reflect on the issues this picture raises
for future research.

International (Considine & Giguere 2008) and Australian (Smyth, Reddel & Jones 2005) interest in the place of associations and partnerships to create more inclusive governance forms continues unabated. In this paper we ...

Felle, Tom; Adshead, Maura(University of Limerick, Department of Politics and Public Administration, 2009)

Freedom of information (FOI) is important because it aims to makes government open, transparent and accountable. The legislation is based on the premise that people have the right of access to public documents, save for ...